Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury №11 2016, pp. 46-47

UDC 796(091)

Professor, Dr.Hab. G.N. Kozlova¹
Professor, PhD V.L. Skitnevskiy¹
Associate Professor, PhD N.B. Vorob'ev¹
Associate Professor, PhD T.S. Sergeeva¹
N.E. Zhitnikova^1
1Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State University (Minin University), Nizhny Novgorod

e-mail: nikolay.nn@mail.ru

The article gives an overview of the historical prerequisites for the Physical Culture and Sport Complex "Ready for Labour and Defence" (GTO) being launched by the USSR government back in the 1930ies. At that time the nation showed rapidly growing efficiency in every domain of the economic and social life backed by the USSR ambitiously evolving into a global power, and these positive trends gave a great boost and strategic mission for the newly launched GTO Complex.
It was in the mid-1920ies that, along with the “illiteracy liquidation” national project, the national movement for the “physical illiteracy liquidation” was initiated with virtually every social category being actively involved in sporting groups, with the health-improvement and physical culture campaign and public agenda being on the rise. In July of 1929, physical education was introduced as a mandatory academic discipline at every higher education establishment of Russia; and since 1930 physical culture was qualified a mandatory academic subject at every university of the USSR. To facilitate the academic curricula being duly implemented, every university established a Physical Culture and Sports Department and recruited the relevant professionals for training. Later on in 1934, “Ready for Labour and Defence” (BGTO) Complex was introduced as a system primarily catering for health-improvement aspects of the national movement. As a result, the GTO Complex was harmonically integrated with the other groundbreaking processes ongoing in the country. The study makes a special emphasis on the national policy revisions that preceded the GTO Complex being initiated and were of significant effect on the public attitudes to the Complex missions. The active popular support secured the valuable contribution made by the GTO Complex to the progress of the Soviet society.

Keywords: state power, fast economic growth, social optimism, physical culture, GTO Complex.

References

1. Devyaty Vsesoyuzny sezd VLKSM. Stenograficheskiy otchet [The 9th All-Union Congress of LYCLSU. Verbatim]. Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya, 1931, 489 p.
2. Krasnaya Armiya – massovaya shkola fizkultury [The Red Army - mass physical culture school // Fizicheskaya kul'tura i sport. 1930, no. 9 (February 15), p. 1.
3. Petukhov P.M. Znachok «Gotov k trudu i oborone» kak osnova sovetskoy sistemy fizicheskoy kul'tury [Badge "Ready for Labour and Defence" as a basis of Soviet system of physical culture]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 1931, no. 6, P. 6-14.
4. Piramida Semashko [Semashko's Pyramid]. Ekspert, 2011, no. 30-31, pp. 68-72.
5. Suponitskaya I.M. Amerikanizatsiya Sovetskoy Rossii v 1920-1930 gody [Americanization of Soviet Russia in 1920-1930]. Voprosy istorii, 2013, no. 9, pp. 46-59.
6. Suponitskaya I.M. «Sovetizatsiya» Ameriki v 1920-1930 gody [Sovietization of America in 1920-1930]. Voprosy istorii, 2014, no. 2, pp. 59-72.
7. Feuchtwanger L. Moskva. 1937. [Moskau 1937]. Moscow: Gos. izd. khud. Literatury, 1937, 93 p. (In Russ.)
8. Fizicheskaya kul'tura. Bol'shaya meditsinskaya entsiklopediya. [Physical Education. Great Medical Encyclopedia]. Vol. 33, Moscow: St. ed. of biological and medical literature, 1936, p. 686.

Received 13.07.2016 г.